1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a wireless information recording medium which includes a reversible thermal recording medium having an information recording section.
2. Description of the Related Art
A wireless information recording medium, that is a reversible thermal recording medium having an information recording section, includes a reversible thermal recording medium and an information recording section on the reversible thermal recording medium.
When information is re-written and stored in the information recording section, visual images corresponding to the information can be displayed on the reversible thermal recording medium.
FIGS. 1, 1A, and 1B show an example of a conventional wireless information recording medium. FIG. 1 is a top view of an example of a conventional wireless information recording medium 100. FIG. 1A is a sectional view at a line A-A in FIG. 1. FIG. 1B is a sectional view at a line B-B line in FIG. 1.
The wireless information recording medium 100 includes a reversible thermal recording medium 1, an adhesive layer 8, an information recording section 200, and a protection layer 7.
The adhesive layer 8 adheres the information recording section 200 to the reversible thermal recording medium 1.
The protection layer 7 covers the information recording section 200. The protection layer 7 includes a material of self-adhesiveness, in which the material can be adhered on a counterpart member by applying pressure to the material.
The information recording section 200 includes a support layer 3, an antenna circuit 4, and an information recording element 5.
The information recording element 5 includes an IC (integrated circuit) chip.
The antenna circuit 4 receives and transmits information for the information recording element 5.
The antenna circuit 4 and the information recording element 5 are provided on the support layer 3, and the information recording element 5 contacts the adhesive layer 8.
FIG. 2 shows another example of a conventional wireless information recording medium 101. FIG. 2A is a sectional view of the wireless information recording medium 101, similar to the FIG. 1A. FIG. 2B is a sectional view of the wireless information recording medium 101, similar to the FIG. 1B.
The wireless information recording medium 101 has substantially the same structure as the wireless information recording medium 100 in FIG. 1 except for the following.
As shown in FIG. 1, in the wireless information recording medium 100, the information recording element 5 of the information recording section 200 contacts the adhesive layer 8.
However, as shown in FIG. 2, in the wireless information recording medium 101, the support layer 3 of the information recording section 200 contacts the adhesive layer 8.
Therefore, it can be said that the information recording section 200 in the wireless information recording medium 100 is upside down in FIG. 2 compared to FIG. 1.
The above-described wireless information recording mediums 100 and 101 are transported in a direction shown by an arrow in FIGS. 1 and 1B or FIG. 2B, respectfully, and inserted into a re-writable recording apparatus (not shown).
In the re-writable recording apparatus, the reversible thermal recording medium 1 is configured to receive image deleting and recording processes.
During the image deleting and recording process (i.e., deleting and printing of images) to the above-described wireless information recording medium 100 or 101, the reversible thermal recording medium 1 is pressed to a heating device (not shown) such as a thermal head, deleting bar, deleting roller, or deleting plate in the re-writable recording apparatus.
As for the above-described wireless information recording medium 100 or 101, an outer periphery face of a layered structure formed with outer periphery faces of the protection layer 7, the support layer 3, and the adhesive layer 8 has a flush face and has a right angle with respect to a surface of the reversible thermal recording medium 1 as shown in FIG. 1B and FIG. 2B. Therefore, the reversible thermal recording medium 1 is unevenly pressed by the above-described heating device (not shown).
Accordingly, a convex shape corresponding to a shape of information recording section 200 may be formed on the reversible thermal recording medium 1. For example, the deleting roller rotates and presses a surface of the reversible thermal recording medium 1 at first, then the deleting roller runs upon the outer periphery face of the above-described layered structure having a flush face in one action, and presses the layered structure toward the reversible thermal recording medium 1.
When the deleting roller runs upon the layered structure, the deleting roller applies pressure to the layered structure in a direction which is opposite of the medium transport direction shown by the arrow in FIG. 1 or FIG. 2. In other words, a force which peels off the layered structure from the reversible thermal recording medium 1 may be applied from the deleting roller to the layered structure.
Accordingly, the reversible thermal recording medium 1 may not be uniformly heated by the heating device (not shown), thereby when printing images, a heat conduction in the reversible thermal recording medium 1 may not be uniformly conducted. Therefore, unevenness may happen to images recorded on the reversible thermal recording medium 1.
Furthermore, when deleting image information, the heating device (not shown) may unevenly contact the reversible thermal recording medium 1, thereby an insufficient image deletion may happen.
Furthermore, a convex shape corresponding to the shape of the information recording element 5 may be observed on the reversible thermal recording medium 1.
Because the information recording element 5 is pressed by the heating device (not shown) via the reversible thermal recording medium 1, the information recording element 5 may be peeled off from the reversible thermal recording medium 1 or may be damaged.
Furthermore, if the reversible thermal recording medium 1 becomes too large such as when an A4-sized sheet is used, an entire surface of the reversible thermal recording medium 1 may not be used effectively for image deleting and recording. Therefore, there is a limit on the size of the reversible thermal recording medium 1 that can be used.
In order to cope with the above-described drawbacks, some background arts have been developed. However, such background arts may have some drawbacks such as the wireless information recording medium (reversible thermal recording medium having information recording section) may become thicker and harder.
If such a medium (e.g., a card) is used, there may be a drawback that an information re-writing and storing to the information recording element and an information re-writing and storing to the reversible thermal recording medium may not be conducted simultaneously by a re-writable recording apparatus used for reversible thermal recording.